Pro-Life Update

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July 2007

Current Texas law, debates in the U.S. Congress, and Jack Kevorkian’s recent release from jail all bring attention to end of life care.  Texas’ futile care law does not protect life when patients are most vulnerable.  However, in Baby Emilio’s case, with the help of a strong family and many Pro-Life advocates, his life was protected till the end of his short life.  In the U.S. Congress, an embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) bill was just passed, which would allow federally-funded scientists to destroy embryos in order to obtain their stem cells.  Finally, Dr. Kevorkian—through his “mercy” killings—reminds us that some people think that life is not necessarily worthwhile.  Life must be defended and nurtured at all stages until natural death.

Please read this issue of the Pro-Life Update carefully to understand some of the challenges we now face and how you—an educated Pro-Lifer—can advance the Culture of Life.  Please share this information with your family, friends, and church congregations.  Make copies.  Spread the news.

Baby Emilio Gonzales Dies

After a long struggle, Emilio Gonzales, 19 months old, died on May 19.  Emilio died naturally with no withdrawal of treatment in his Austin hospital bed, while his mother Catarina and her family stood vigilantly at his bedside.  The medical condition from which he suffered was never diagnosed.  Please join Texas Right to Life in praying for the Gonzales family during this intense period of loss and mourning.

Although Emilio was born with disabilities, his mother managed his care at home until last December, when he was taken to the Austin hospital.  Within weeks of his admission, the facility rendered Emilio’s life futile and repeatedly pressured his mother to withdraw care and treatment, yet Catarina fought to protect his life.  Baby Emilio was the latest victim of Texas’ futile care law, a law enabling doctors to withdraw treatment from a patient after providing ten days notice of their intent to do so.  Through ongoing negotiations with the hospital, Texas Right to Life, and Catarina’s attorneys, the facility continued to treat Emilio until his diseased brain and plagued little body succumbed.  Texas Right to Life's donors responded quite generously to a special request to assist the family with funeral and burial expenses.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research in the U.S. Congress

On June 6, the Democratic leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives attempted—but failed—to fast-track a phony ban on cloning (H.R. 2560).  The measure failed by a vote of 204 to 213.  Although described as a ban on human cloning, the bill would have allowed the creation and development of cloned human embryos (individual members, male or female, of the species Homo sapiens) in order to harvest their stem cells.  In other words, these cloned human embryos would have been created solely to destroy them for their parts.    

National Right to Life explained that this stealth attempt not only fell short of the majority, but the count was “74 votes short of the two-thirds majority that was required for approval under the fast-track procedure that the House Democratic leadership used to try to rush the ‘clone-and-kill’ bill through less than a day after its introduction.”

The next day, on June 7, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 5, which would legalize embryonic stem cell research.  President Bush has promised to veto this bill, which means that the Congress will then need to decide whether or not they will attempt to override his veto this summer. 

President Bush, explaining how disappointed he was that this bill passed, explained: “If this bill were to become law, American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos.”

National Right to Life described Nancy Pelosi’s argument for S. 5: God himself gave us science, and science gave us embryonic stem cell research.  She concluded that we must underwrite research that is “biblical in its power to cure.”  Such reasoning sounds specious and shows how desperate they must be.

Meanwhile, all current research shows that adult stem cells have the power to cure many diseases now—and have even greater potential for the future.  Scientists have found ways to use pluripotent stem cells from amniotic fluid, which have the same “promise” as ESCR without the ethical problems.

Jack Kevorkian Released from Jail

After serving an eight-year sentence for assisting a suicide, Jack Kevorkian (a.k.a. “Dr. Death”) was released from jail on June 1.  He was incarcerated after injecting lethal drugs into Thomas Youk, a 52 year-old man suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Kevorkian claims that he assisted with over 130 suicides.

Kevorkian has said that he will not assist in any more suicides.  (If he does, he will be sent back to jail.)  He will, however, be a strong advocate for the assisted suicide movement (commanding $50,000 to $100,000 per speech).  Whether he will help or hinder the right-to-die movement, however, is yet to be determined.  His image is not as polished as those of today’s activists for groups like Compassion & Choices.  Already, when asked by Mike Wallace if he regrets assisting Tom Youk, Kevorkian explained that the murder was of “a man whose life didn’t measure up anymore.  You know, [philosopher] David Hume said it, ‘No man ever threw away a life while it was worth keeping.’”  Such logic and thinking must never be accepted by the American public.

The Pro-Life movement still has much work to ensure that all people throughout the world are welcomed into Life and respected.  If you would like any additional information on the topics discussed above, please send me a note or log onto www.TexasRightToLife.com.  If you ever have questions about any Pro-Life issues, please be sure to let me know.

Yours for Life,

Dr. Joseph M. Graham

President